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We are the soul of a newspaper. Not just any newspaper. We are the soul of the Toronto Sun from back in the day when it was the tabloid everyone in Toronto talked about. We are the people who helped make it happen. Sadly, most of us are long gone from the Sun. Many are now deceased. But when we were all a part of the Sun, as it was, it was a vibrant, kick ass paper that captured the impossible dream.

Sunday, 23 December 2007

UpdatedOne of the Toronto Sun's numerous "firsts" in its first 36 years was the 1993 smoking ban throughout most of 333 King Street East.

The workplace ban was a first for the four major Toronto dailies and one of the first for businesses in Ontario. The decision attracted other media to the newsroom, including a TV crew looking for reaction.

Sun smokers were allowed 15-minute breaks and a designated smoke room was set up in a doored dining area in the ground floor cafeteria.

While a lot of employees begrudgingly accepted the ban, a few rebelled and puffed here and there on the sly until it became tiresome.

Several longtime newsroom smokers quit cold turkey rather than interrupt their work and retreat to the designated smoke room or stand outside.

It took a few weeks to get visitors to butt out, but the complete ban eventually worked, well in advance of municipal and provincial laws.

Who knew that 14 years later, smoking bans in the workplace, and just about everywhere else, would be the norm across North America?

There is no official count of the number of Sun smokers who became non-smokers because of the inconvenience of the ban.

And there is no way of knowing how many lungs were spared the ills of second hand smoke during those 14 smoke-free years.

But in 1993, it was the high-profile Toronto Sun that helped set the pace voluntarily in a city filled with smoky office buildings.

The 1993 ban came to mind Saturday while reading about Dave Thomas kicking his 34-year addiction with laser surgery.

The Toronto Sun photographer, who figures he has spent more than $70,000 on cigs since his first smoke, hasn't had a puff since Nov. 4.

His first person story will no doubt have frustrated smokers thinking about laser surgery.

Congrats, Dave. You will find crime fighting on the streets of Toronto so much easier.

The Toronto Sun Family: 1971 - 2017

Current and former Sun Media employees, this blog is for you. We'd like to hear your feelings about the Sun, pro or con, your experiences and if no longer with Sun Media, what you are doing today. There is no "I" in Toronto Sun Family. Just "we."